Error Masquerading As Truth In The Church; "Rejecting Sickness!"

When told they're being attacked by a disease or suffering from sickness, many Christ followers reply, "I don't receive that," or "I reject that," or "I refuse to accept that," or something along those lines. Their belief is that if they don't acknowledge the sickness then they will not be sick! There are literally thousands of Christ followers who believe and practice this concept. The problem with believing this error is that it gives the appearance that it has a biblical basis, but does it? Do we see anyone in the Scriptures refusing to acknowledge sickness or disease and then being healed from it? As Christ followers, we should be like the Bereans of Paul's day who, "received the word with great eagerness, EXAMINING the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11)! We need to examine the Scriptures and see what they reveal, say, or do not say, regarding this practice. The Scriptures are full of testimonies of healings provided by God the Father through God the Son, the apostles, and many others. The list is quite extensive! Generally, it was fairly simple. The person became ill; he acknowledged the sickness he was suffering; he called out to the Lord Jesus; he believed the Lord would heal him; and he was healed. See (Matt. 8:2; Mark 5:28; Matt. 9:27-31; Matt. 15:30). This is just a short list of the many people that were healed by the Lord Jesus. However, the one thing all of these people have in common is that not one of them denied that they or the person they were seeking healing for were suffering from sickness or disease! There's no mention of these sick people ever saying, "I reject sickness," or "I refuse to accept sickness!" There's no biblical record of anyone being healed after denying that he was sick when he was, in fact, sick! In fact, there's no record in Scripture of any one denying he was sick, so as to "reject or refuse it." What is the origin of "rejecting sickness?" Its root is found in the "positive confession" Word of Faith movement. It comes from a twisted view of the atonement of Jesus. They teach that the atonement guarantees our physical healing. It comes from a twisted view of God's sovereignty concerning healing of the physical body. The atonement of Jesus was to pay a debt, our debt, for our transgressions (sin) against God. Sickness and disease are a result of our fallen nature; they are not, in and of themselves, transgressions against God! There is biblical evidence that shows Christ followers still suffer sickness and disease, even though the atonement was made through Jesus! Apostle James wrote, "Is anyone among you sick?" (Jas. 5:14). Apostle Paul wrote of men of faith who had suffered sickness: "Trophimus I left sick at Miletus" (2 Tim. 4:20); Concerning Timothy, Paul wrote, "use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments" (1 Tim. 5:23). Your move. Be encouraged!